Friday, November 06, 2015

Kho Jabing, a 31 year old Sarawakan on death row in Singapore, had his
clemency petition rejected by the President on the advise of the Cabinet
on 19 October 2015. He has exhausted all legal avenues and is at risk
of being executed soon.

UPDATE:- Allegedly, he was scheduled to be executed today(Friday, 6/11/2015) - but there was a news report in Malay Mail that stated he may have obtained a stay of execution.(I have not yet managed to get confirmation)

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) urgently calls on the
government of Singapore to halt the impending execution of 31 -year-old
Sarawakian Kho Jabing, whose application for clemency was rejected by
the President of Singapore on 19 October.

Kho Jabing was arrested in February 2008 for his participation in a
robbery during which he hit a victim with a wooden stick or branch,
resulting in the man’s death. He was convicted in 2010 under Section
300c of Singapore’s Penal Code, and his mandatory death sentence was
confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2011.

In 2013, amendments to Singapore’s mandatory death penalty regime
came into force, allowing Jabing the opportunity to be re-sentenced.
Describing Jabing’s actions as “opportunistic and improvisational”, a
High Court judge re-sentenced him to life imprisonment with 24 strokes
of the cane. However, the prosecution appealed and in January 2015 a
five-judge Court of Appeal reinstated the death sentence after deeming
in a majority decision that Jabing had “exhibited a blatant disregard
for human life”.

It is important to note that Jabing’s final death sentence was not
passed with a unanimous decision, but a slim majority. Two of the five
appeal judges did not feel that the death penalty was appropriate for
his crime, and felt that there was reasonable doubt as to the number of
times and intensity with which Jabing had hit his victim that would
affect any consideration of whether he had acted with a blatant
disregard for human life.

The death penalty is the most final and irreversible of punishments.
We cannot afford a single shred of doubt when a state condemns an
individual to the gallows.

Yet here we have the case of three learned judges – the High Court
judge and two Court of Appeal judges – saying they did not believe
capital punishment suitable in Jabing’s case. It is therefore unsafe to
pass the ultimate sentence of death when doubt clearly exists even among
Singapore’s most esteemed legal professionals.

ADPAN urges the President and the Cabinet of Singapore to reconsider their decision not to grant Jabing clemency.

Issued by:

ADPAN Executive Committee

URGENT ACTION NEEDED:-

Send
letters/emails calling on the Singapore government to no execute Kho
Jabing. A sample open letter by The Singapore Working Group on the Death
Penalty can be found below.

You can send your letter to the following:

President of Singapore
His Excellency Tony Tan Keng Yam Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore
Orchard Road, Singapore 238823
Fax: (65) 67353135
Email: istana_feedback@istana.gov.sg

The letter that was sent by The Singapore Working Group on the Death Penalty

Mercy for Kho Jabing: An open letter to the Cabinet

Dear distinguished Ministers,

We are writing this letter of appeal for Kho Jabing, whose petition
for clemency was rejected on 19 October 2015. We urge the Cabinet to
reconsider his clemency in light of the fact that there was no unanimous
decision even at the highest court of the land, and our learned judges
were split in their opinion of whether the death penalty was appropriate
in his case.

We also seek the compassion of the Cabinet for the family of Jabing,
who have gone through much suffering since his original sentencing. His
father passed away shortly while Jabing’s case was ongoing, and Jabing’s
sister Jumai believes that her father’s illness prior to his death was
due to Jabing’s incarceration, which came as a great blow for him. His
mother, who has been unable to work due to health reasons, has lost both
her sources of financial support and has been living on the goodwill of
her neighbours and minimal state welfare ever since then.

On top of her ill-health, the thought of losing Jabing, her only son,
is too much for his mother to bear. We cannot imagine the effect of his
death will have on her wellbeing.

We understand the grievousness of his offence but hope that he will
be given a second chance and a more meaningful way to atone for his
crime.

We hope that our Ministers will be compassionate and consider all
factors related, especially the impact of capital punishment on Jabing’s
family, and exercise mercy by commuting his death sentence to that of
life imprisonment.

Yours sincerely,

Singapore Working Group on the Death Penalty
__________________________________________

The Singapore Working Group on Death Penalty comprises the
Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign, We Believe in Second Chances and
Think Centre. All three organisations are also members of the Anti-Death
Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN).

Sarawakian
Kho Jabing has been granted a stay of execution today after his lawyer
filed an appeal with officials in Singapore. ― File picKUALA
LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― Condemned to hang for the murder of a China national
tomorrow, Malaysian Kho Jabing has gained precious extra time after he
was granted a stay of execution today after his lawyer filed an appeal
with officials in Singapore.

The temporary reprieve for the 31-year-old Miri native was announced by
the Malaysian unit of Amnesty International on social media just
minutes ago.

“Good news! Kho Jabing will not be executed tomorrow 6 Nov 2015,” the group said on its Twitter account @@AmnestyMy.

Anti-execution activist Kirsten Han, who has been campaigning actively to save the Sarawakian’s life, told Malay Mail Online however that the stay of execution did not specify a time.

“A stay of execution has been granted. Not sure for how long yet. This
is a stay so that the court can hear the lawyer's case,” the co-founder
of We Believe in Second Chances said in a text message.

Jabing left for Singapore in 2007 searching for better economic opportunities and was hired as a labourer there.

He was first convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 for the murder of China national Cao Ruyin, 40.

When amendments to the mandatory death penalty came into force in 2013,
however, Jabing was deemed eligible to apply for resentencing; his
sentenced was later commuted to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the
cane by the Singapore High Court.

However, a 3-2 decision at the Singapore Court of Appeal last January
after the prosecution appealed sent Jabing back to death row.

Number of Visits

By 15th June 2008, we 1,328,396 visits...and by 2010, we would have easily crossed the 2 million mark..We started counting visits again in May 2010, and soon we expect to be crossed the million mark yet again. As such, we have had over 3 million visits to our site. On an average, we have about 700-750 visits per day.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement..

I believe in the freedom of expression - and everyone is free to use, reproduce, quote, copy and circulate, etc... materials published here. Please credit the source: http://charleshector.blogspot.com/.

For those of you who do have Blogs/Websites, it would be good if you could add a link to CHARLES HECTOR Blog. Please do promote the BLOG.

Anonymous comments or those containing profanities and obscenities (or irrelevant matters) will be rejected.